The Dramatic Life of Joey Calhoun
by SuperTeenNewsieAvengerGal
Summary: Joey is a tomboy in a world of girls who wear tight fitting tops and too much eyeliner. This is her story.  Read description in Ch. 1 for more information
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own 13.**

**Note: I was cast as "Chorus 4" in 13 recently…and needed to make my character more deep. The other ensemble girls all decided to be "Popular Girls" or "Followers". I decided to shake things up a little bit. This is my character's story. (PS: My descriptions of the characters are not the same as how I would describe myself or my cast mates)**

**Chapter 1:**

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Be—

I slammed my hand on the snooze button of my alarm clock, and hopped out of bed. The first day of Junior High was today. I'm so thrilled.

I took a quick shower, ate breakfast, and then came upstairs to decide what to wear. Eventually I chose one of my brother's old Aeropostale shirts with a plaid shirt open over it, and my cargo shorts. I brushed through my dark red hair once, and then grabbed my visor beanie.

(For those of you who don't know what that is, click here: .com/store/images/T/cuff%20black%20beanie% )

I ran down stairs only to come face to face with the vicious monster also known as my sister, Jessica.

"Move it, Butch." She said to me as she put on her lip gloss.

"Alrighty, Bitch." I replied. She sighed at me, and continued up the stairs. Yes, she did have the looks and the girly-ness, but I had the wits and the drumming skills.

I put my visor beanie on, grabbed my grey backpack and my drumsticks, and headed out to my Dad's car. Once I had hopped into the shotgun seat, I pulled my iPod out of my pocket and put it on random. Jessica soon came outside, wearing a new set of heels, a short skirt, and a pink shirt. She was sixteen, a good three years older than me. I locked the doors to the car and ignored her when she started banging on the car door. After a while, she forfeited to me, and ran to "Daddy". He soon came out the door, and joined me in the front seat. Jessica sat in the back, satisfied with her phone in front of her.

"Are we taking anyone today?" I asked him.

"We're taking Eddie and Richie today." He replied. We both looked back at Jessica, who would have to sit between the two boys. She began to furiously text one of her friends, and completely ignored us. My Dad high-fived me, then began driving to Eddie's house.

Appleton, Indiana. It is probably the most exciting town you've ever seen. (Note my wonderful use of sarcasm.) Eddie's house is just like any other house next to it. Eddie himself was waiting on the porch, his backpack sitting next to him. He waved to his Mom through the screen door, then jogged up to the car.

"Hey Joey." He said as he entered the car. Once he was in we started towards Richie's house. Eddie handed me a keychain in the shape of a turtle.

"How was Hawaii?" I asked him.

"It was the best! They have great weather over there." He said, smiling. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two more souvenirs. He handed a small bottle of lotion to Jessica, which she looked at quizzically, smelled, and finally tried; then he handed my Dad a sunset colored whistle. My Dad is the coach of the football team at the high school, thus, the whistle.

"What'd you do, Joey?" Eddie asked me. I grinned.

"I got a new drum set."

"No way!"

"Yup. It's the best one in all of Appleton." I boasted.

"That's not saying much." Jessica mumbled.

"Shut it. We're already at Richie's." I replied.

Richie grabbed his backpack and hopped in the car.

"Hey, how's it been Eddie?" he asked.

"Hawaii was great. How 'bout you?" Eddie said.

"Nothing much, besides playing ball with the guys." Richie returned. I coughed.

"And our fine young lady played ball with us too." Richie said sarcastically. Eddie laughed.

"What position did you play, Joey?" Eddie asked me.

"Receiver."

"Were you any good?"

"I wasn't as good as Malcolm, but I'm definitely runner up."

"Really?" Eddie asked. Richie and I nodded. Suddenly, Richie took a small piece of paper out of his pocket.

"What's your guy's schedule?" he asked. I grabbed mine from my backpack, and looked at Richie's.

"We have math, English, PE, and band together." I replied. Eddie handed me his. "We have math, Spanish and history together."

"Cool!" Eddie said. The car came to a stop. We were in front of the infamous Dan Quayle Junior High School.

"See you kids later!" my Dad said. Jessica was the first one out, and once we had all left the car she sat herself down next to our Dad. He drove off, and left us staring at our campus.

"Ready?" Richie asked us.

"Yeah." I replied.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Eddie joked. And with a small laugh, we headed into the dark depths of the torturous school day.


	2. First Day

**Chapter 2:**

We headed into the gym to "sign in" for our first day of school. The teachers all lined up with their names written on posters above their heads. We were supposed to check in with our first period teacher, find our locker somewhere on campus, and then wait for class to actually start. Since the three of us all started with math, we searched for our math teacher's table.

We found Mr. Tyson next to the door on the opposite side of the building. He was about forty, with brown hair in a style that practically every teacher has. Eddie, after a lot of pushing from Richie and I, introduced himself first.

"Mr. Tyson," Eddie said to get our teacher's attention. The man looked up from his class list, and gave a warm smile.

"Welcome to Dan Quayle Junior High School. Will I have the pleasure of having you three youngsters in my algebra class?" Mr. Tyson asked.

"Yes." I said. Mr. Tyson seemed nice enough.

"What's your name young lady?" Mr. Tyson asked me.

"Joey Calhoun." I replied.

"Ah, Joey. Your sister is Jessica, correct?" the teacher questioned.

"Yeah."

"Well, by the look of it, you're very different from your sister," Mr. Tyson began. He looked around to make sure no one else but the three of us could hear his next comment. "Which means you'll probably ace this class." He said with a chuckle. Richie stuck his hand out for Mr. Tyson to shake.

"Richard Allen, but you can call me Richie."

"That's nice to know, Richie. See you in class." Mr. Tyson turned to Eddie. "And you are?"

"Eddie Hughes. My name's probably listed as Edward, though." At this, Mr. Tyson looked through his class list.

"You are indeed listed as Edward. But I'll call you Eddie, so you won't be mistaken for a sparkly vampire." Mr. Tyson joked. He said he'll see us soon enough and we left to find our lockers.

"He seems like a nice guy." Richie said.

"Yeah, I guess." I replied slowly.

"That's probably luck. I bet we'll get a terrible English teacher or something." Eddie retorted.

"Great. Cause what we all need is a demon English teacher." I snorted.

"Hey Eddie, Richie, Joey!" a voice shouted from across the hall. We turned and saw Brett Sampson, also known as the most popular boy in school, and our elementary quarterback player.

"How's my favorite little receiver doing?" he asked me.

"Pretty good; do you know when tryouts are? My Dad told me that there might be a spot for me on the team if I'm good enough."

"No idea when tryouts are, but we'll kick someone off the team so you can be our receiver." Brett returned. I smiled, and left Brett to talk with Eddie and Richie about some plan to get Kendra to date him.

After that I wandered around, trying to find all my classrooms for the day, making a roadmap for myself. Math, then Band, then Spanish, then History, then Lunch, then English, then PE, then Science. It wasn't hard to find my classes, so I finished finding my classrooms before the bell rang. I started walking towards Math when I heard a sound from behind me. I turned around to see a girl wearing skinny jeans, a white tank top, and a cropped black vest (yes I do know style terms…you can blame my sister for that). All of her books had fallen on the floor, and she quickly went to pick them up. There was a boy in a wheelchair with her, but he wasn't the most helpful. I put my bag down, and helped her pick up some of her textbooks.

"Thanks, uh…"

"Joey." I finished for her. She nodded.

"Thanks Joey. I'm Patrice, and this is Archie. I think we might have gone to the same elementary school." The girl said. I searched my head for memories of her or the boy, and finally remembered them. I suddenly felt terrible inside.

"Uh, see you later Patrice, Archie." I said quickly and walked away. The bell rang, and I was relieved to finally have a good excuse for ditching them.

They were the kids that Brett and other popular kids like Lucy had always ridiculed. I never made fun of Archie and Patrice, but I never did anything to stop it either. That was the reason for the pit in my stomach.


	3. The Crip and the Geek

**Chapter 3:**

When I reached my math class, I found Eddie and Richie saving a seat in between them for me. I quickly sat down, and scanned the class for other people I knew. I recognized most of my classmates, except for one new boy.

Lucy and Kendra were chatting on the other side of the room. I always wondered how the two girls got along, since their personalities were far from similar. Lucy always wore too much eyeliner, clothes that should be against the dress code, and a frown on her face. If Lucy was ever wearing a smile, it was far from genuine. The only time she would ever smile would be if she had something up her sleeve. Kendra on the other hand, wore clothes that were from popular clothing stores, usually just lip gloss, and always had a smile on her face. She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she gets along with everyone, which makes up for it.

When the second bell rang, Mr. Tyson stood up from his desk, and enthusiastically began to take roll. I listened to all the names, trying to figure out which name I hadn't heard before and match it to the new boy.

"Evan Goldman?"

"Here!" the boy said. Everyone turned to look at him. He looked like any other boy in this school, but he didn't look like he was made to play sports. I turned my attention back towards the white board in front of us, absolutely anticipating the wonders of the mathematical world. (Again, a hint of sarcasm.)

Mr. Tyson went over our curriculum, what supplies we would need, and gave us a chance to ask questions. Once the bell rang, we all left the classroom and headed towards our next class. Eddie headed off one way, and I showed Richie the way to the Music Room. I play in the percussion section, and Richie plays trumpet. When we walked in the room, there were a number of kids that I knew from elementary school, and the band we had there. There were a couple new kids, but not many. The white board at the front of the room read, "Sit in your labeled sections". There was a music stand behind a row of chairs that read, "Percussion". I spotted others around the room that had the names of different types of instruments, and watched as other kids put the facts together. I sat down in my section, next to Simon. He and I were always competing for best receiver, but in a friendly way.

"Remind me to break your legs sometime." He said to me. I smiled.

"Remind me to beat you at the tryouts, and it's a deal."

"Sounds good to me." He replied. The bell rang, and our band instructor began class.

Band, Spanish, and History worked the same way as math had. The teacher explains what we'll be doing during the year, what will be expected of us, and time for questions. When lunch came around, Eddie, Richie, Simon, Malcolm (our friend from elementary school), and I had met up and tried to find where Brett was eating lunch. We found him at the lunch tables outside, sitting with Lucy, Kendra, and three girls from our school. They all knew me pretty well, but the only one who was honestly nice to me was Kendra.

We sat down at the table with Brett, and he greeted us with a smile.

"How's the first day going for you guys?" Brett asked us. Everyone responded with "Good." Or "Fine." Or "Great." And I did the same. We ate our lunches and talked until the new kid, Evan, came up to our table.

"Can I sit with you guys?" he asked quietly. Brett stood up. He was at least six inches taller than this new kid, and could probably beat him to a pulp if he wanted to. But the kid was smart, and quickly stated, "I'm from New York." That got everyone's attention, and he quickly began talking about his hometown. Evan was Jewish, and began to hand out flyers for his Bar Mitzvah. I took one, as everyone else did, and watched in horror as Patrice and Archie came up to Evan.

"Hey Patrice, you're invited too." He said as he handed her an invitation. Patrice looked at Brett, who was standing behind Evan, gulped, and let out a small, "Thank you."

"If the freak's coming, I'm not." Brett said loudly. Lucy, her clique, and a few of the boys agreed with him. Patrice looked as if she was frozen, and Archie was watching the whole thing play out.

Evan looked at Patrice, and at Brett. Finally, he took Patrice's invitation, ripped it in half, and turned back to Brett. Patrice walked away as fast as she could, and Archie slowly followed.

"Welcome to the club, Brain." Brett said to Evan. Everyone continued on with their lunch, and talked about New York.

I was the only one who saw Patrice run into the girls' bathroom down the hall, and Archie glare back in our direction.


	4. Mrs Crawford

**Chapter 4:**

When the bell rang, I began walking towards my English class. Brett and Richie soon joined me, and began to talk about Patrice. I didn't comment, but I listened.

"I can't believe we used to hang out with that freak." Brett began.

"She was nice and all, but that's kinda the reason we ditched her." Richie said.

"Yeah, once she became friends with that cripple, things went downhill for her." Brett replied, laughing.

I got tired of hearing their constant criticism, so I quickened my pace. Once I reached the English classroom, I waited at the door for them. Along the way Evan must have joined them. Hopefully he wasn't talking the same way Brett was about Patrice.

I walked into the English classroom, and sat down at one of the last open desks. Brett, Richie, and Evan walked in the door when the bell rang.

"Tardy! Tardy! Tardy!" the teacher shouted at them. They all looked confused.

"If you butt isn't in a chair when the bell rings, you're tardy. Three tardy's makes one detention. Three detentions in a month is one suspension. Three suspensions in three months is a possible expulsion!" She snapped. They sat down quickly, and the teacher rose from her desk to take roll. When she was done, she introduced herself.

"I'm Mrs. Crawford. I will be your English teacher this school year."

I sighed. Eddie was right. If we had a teacher as cool as Mr. Tyson, we had to have someone as terrible as Mrs. Crawford.

"Now, pick up your belongings and stand at the back of the room. You're going to have assigned seats!" she said enthusiastically. This time, we all sighed. "Joey Calhoun, here." She said to the class. I walked towards the front and center desk which she had placed me at. Mrs. Crawford looked quizzically at me, as if trying to figure out why my name was Joey if I were a girl. Then she continued on.

Eventually, we all had seats. Evan was on my right side; Charlotte (one of Lucy and Kendra's friends) was on my left. Richie and Brett were next to each other, as were Kendra and Lucy.

Mrs. Crawford decided to make us introduce ourselves to the people sitting on the right and the left of us, and I sighed again. I started with Charlotte.

"My name's Joey."

"Charlotte. You're one of Brett's friends, right?" she asked me. I nodded. "Cool." She replied. Then she turned around to "introduce" herself to one of her best friends. I turned to Evan.

"Evan Goldman, nice to meet you." He said, sticking his hand out to me. I shook it awkwardly.

"Joey Calhoun, nice to meet you too." I began. "You're friends with Patrice, right?" I asked him. He frowned. It was as if he couldn't decide what to say. I tapped him out of his thought. "Never mind. I'll ask when you have a definite answer." Evan nodded, and Mrs. Crawford walked to the front of the room.

"Here," she said, holding up a stack of papers. "Is your homework." She finished. There were groans from around the room, but Mrs. Crawford paid no attention to them. She passed out the homework, which consisted of a parent signature page, a vocabulary worksheet, a list of books for our age, and a spelling booklet. "All of this must be done by Friday." She said. The bell rang, and she waved us goodbye.

Once I got outside, I joined Brett and Richie.

"I think she wins the prize for most obnoxious teacher so far." I said.

"True that, brother." Richie said. I looked at my schedule. PE. All three of us had it this period, and we were gonna show the rest of the kids up at football.

When we arrived at the gym, our PE teacher told us to sit down on the bleachers. We did, and soon enough the bell rang. We had a class of about thirty people.

Our teacher, Mr. Acosta, explained what units we would cover this year, what team sports would be available, and the locker room rules. When he asked for questions, I raised my hand.

"Yes, Calhoun?"

"Can girls try out for the football team?" I asked. Some of the girls laughed, but practically none of the boys did. Mr. Acosta thought about it for a moment.

"What position do you play?" he asked me.

"Receiver." I replied. He looked at the boys in front of him.

"How many of you play football?" he asked the class. A number of boys raised their hands.

"How many of you have seen Miss Joey play football?" he asked the class. Two boys put their hands down.

Mr. Acosta pointed to Brett. "If you were to choose one receiver out of this whole class, who would you pick?" Mr. Acosta asked him. Brett looked to me.

"Joey. She's the best receiver we've got." He said to our teacher. Mr. Acosta looked to me.

"Then you can tryout." He said.

I smiled.


End file.
